DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Office of the Secretary

Assistant Secretary for Health

Office of Public Health and Science
Washington D .C . 20201

JAN : 8 2018
Mr. Del Bigtree
Informed Consent Action Network
10200 US HWY 290 W, Suite 301
Austin, Texas 78736

Dear Mr. Bigtree:

Acting Secretary Hargan has asked me to thank you for your letter expressing interest in vaccine
safety and in and the federal policies guiding the licensing, recommendation, and safety
monitoring of immunizations, and to respond to you directly.

The Department of Health and Human Services has a far-reaching mission to enhance and
protect the health of all Americans. Vaccines are held to the highest standard of safety to both
protect people from adverse reactions and enhance their health by preventing a number of serious
diseases. I am proud to report that data show the United States currently has the safest supply in
history.

I have provided responses to your specific questions in the enclosure to this letter. Thank you for
the opportunity to address your concerns.

Sincerely yours,

Melinda Wharton, MD, MPH

Acting Director, National Vaccine Program Office

Enclosure

U.S. Public Health Service

 HHS Responses to Questions and Comments from Mr. Bigtree

I would like to address a comment made in section II of your letter about pre-Ii censure safety
review of pediatric vaccines. Contrary to statements made on page two of your letter, many
pediatric vaccines have been investigated in clinical trials that included a placebo. In
addition, there appears to be a misunderstanding regarding the term "solicited" adverse
events. Typically, in vaccine trials, the incidence of certain specific clinical findings that
might be expected after vaccination is monitored for a short period of time after vaccination.
Because these events are pre-specified, they are considered to be "solicited" events. In
addition, other unexpected or severe adverse events, which may occur over a longer period of
time following vaccination, are also analyzed and evaluated by FDA, but because these
events are not predicted prior to initiation of the study, these are not called "solicited"
adverse events. Please be assured that vaccine safety is carefully examined regardless of
whether there is a placebo included in the clinical trials. Once vaccines are approved, the
safety is also carefully monitored, in some cases by manufacturer-conducted post-marketing
studies by Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the Vaccine Safety Datalink
(VSD), or the Post-licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring System (PRISM), as
well as other mechanisms.

(1) Please explain how HHS justifies licensing any pediatric vaccine without first
conducting a long-term clinical trial in which the rate of adverse reactions is
compared between the subject group and a control group receiving an inert
placebo?

Inert placebo controls are not required to understand the safety profile of a new vaccine,
and are thus not required. In some cases, inclusion of placebo control groups is
considered unethical. Even in the absence of a placebo, control groups can be useful in
evaluating whether the incidence ofa specific observed adverse event exceeds that which
would be expected without administration of the new vaccine. Serious adverse events are
always carefully evaluated by FDA to determine potential association with vaccination
regardless of their rate of incidence in the control group. In cases where an active control
is used, the adverse event profile of that control group is usually known and the findings
of the study are reviewed in the context of that knowledge.

(2) Please list and provide the safety data relied upon when recommending babies
receive the Hepatitis B vaccine on the first day of life?

Data relied upon in licensing infant use of hepatitis B vaccines is summarized in the
respective package inserts. Furthermore, pediatric data from other countries and in the
literature, support the safety of these vaccines in infants. The recommendation for all
children to receive these vaccines was made by the Advisory Committee for
 Immunization Practices. Their reasoning is summarized in a Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00033405.htm.
Follow-up studies support the safety of infant vaccination with hepatitis B vaccines.

(3) Please explain why HHS failed to cooperate with Harvard to automate V AERS
reporting? And detail any steps that HHS has taken since toward automating
V AERS reporting?

On June 30, 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA
implemented a revised reporting form and a new process for submitting reports to the
VAERS for non-manufacturer reports. Persons reporting adverse events are now able to
use the V AERS 2.0 online reporting tool to submit reports directly online; alternatively,
they may download and complete the writable and savable VAERS 2.0 form and submit
it using an electronic document upload feature. Vaccine manufacturers submit VAERS
reports electronically through the FDA Electronic Submissions Gateway (ESG). With
V AERS 2.0 and the FDA ESG, multiple electronic options exist for VAERS reporting.

In addition, CDC is developing the next generation of spontaneous reporting mechanisms

for the VAERS. Following its initial work with Harvard, CDC completed a successful
proof of concept study with Harvard and other partners that takes advantage of electronic
health records (EHR) and computer algorithms to facilitate direct reporting from EHR
systems. You can read about that study at
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/61/6/864/451758. CDC continues to explore options
to further develop this capability.

(4) Please explain any specific steps taken by HHS to improve adverse reaction
reporting to VAERS?

Please see my response to question #3.

(5) For each of the 38 vaccine-injury pairs reviewed in the 1994 IOM Report which the
IOM found lacked studies to determine causation, please identify the studies
undertaken by the HHS to determine whether each injury is caused by vaccination?

Please refer to the latest review of the "Safety of Vaccines Used for Routine
Immunization in the United States" published in 2014 at
https://www.ahrg.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/vaccinestp.html. This
report reviewed and accepted the findings of the 2011 Institute of Medicine report and
provides an independent, systematic review of the literature published after that report on
the safety of vaccines recommended for routine immunization of children, adolescents,

2
 and adults in the United States. The report, highlighted in the July 2014 issue of
Pediatrics, provides the most comprehensive review to date of published studies on the
safety of routine vaccines recommended for children in the United States. The report
concludes that the risk of rare adverse events must be weighed against the protective
benefits that vaccines provide. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has been working to address several of the vaccine-injury pairs that
have been identified in the reports mentioned above. A list of CDC vaccine safety
publications can be found at:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/research/publications/index.htrnl.

(6) For each of the 135 vaccine-injury pairs reviewed in the 2011 IOM Report which the
IOM found lacked studies to determine causation, please identify the studies
undertaken by the HHS to determine whether each injury is caused by vaccination?

Please see response to question #5 .

(7) Please explain what HHS has done to assure that health care providers record the
manufacturer and lot number for each vaccine they administer?

Health care providers who administer vaccines covered by the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program (VICP) are required under the National Childhood Vaccine
Injury Act of 1986 (Vaccine Act), as amended, to ensure that the permanent medical
record of the recipient (or a permanent office log or file) indicates the date the vaccine
was administered, the vaccine manufacturer, the vaccine lot number, and the name,
address, and title of the person administering the vaccine. This provision of the Vaccine
Act applies to any vaccine for which there is a routine recommendation for childhood
vaccination, even if many or most doses of the vaccine are administered to adults (e.g.,
influenza vaccine). In addition, the provider is required to record the edition date of the
Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) distributed and the date those materials were
provided.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) also issued "General Best
Practice Guidelines for Immunization" at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-
recs/general-recs/records.html. This report provides information for clinicians and other
health care providers about concerns that commonly arise when vaccinating persons of
various ages, and includes a chapter on vaccination records that reinforces the Vaccine
Act's requirement to record in the recipient's medical record (or a permanent office log
or file) the date the vaccine was administered, the vaccine manufacturer, the vaccine lot
number, and the name, address, and title of the person administering the vaccine.

3
 (8) Please advise when HHS intends to begin conducting research to identify which
children are susceptible to serious vaccine injury? If HHS believes it has
commenced this research, please detail its activities regarding same?

HHS is currently supporting several initiatives that focus on advancing research on the
fields of precision vaccinology (vaccine formulations tailored on the individual immune
reactivity status) and adversomics (the study of vaccine adverse reactions using
immunogenomics and systems biology approaches). Two examples are listed below:

• https://www.immuneprofiling.org/hipc/ page/ showPage?pg=about

• https://www.hhs.gov/nypo/national-vaccine-plan/funding-opportunity-vaccine-
safety-research/index.html

(9) Please confirm that HHS shall forthwith remove the claim that "Vaccines Do Not
Cause Autism" from the CDC website, or alternatively, please identify the specific
studies on which HHS bases its blanket claim that no vaccines cause autism?

Vaccines are held to strict standards of safety. Many studies have looked at whether there
is a relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These studies
continue to show that vaccines do not cause ASD. For more information, please refer to
the literature below:

• https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/pdf/cdcstudiesonvaccinesandautism.pdf
• http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/reports/2004/immunization-safety-review-
vaccines-and-autism. aspx
• http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-34 76(13)001 44-3/pdf?ext=.pdf
http://nationalacadernies.org/HMD/Reports/2011 / Adverse-Effects-of-Vaccines-
Evidence-and-Causality.aspx

While there is still a lot to learn about ASD, research from public and private
organizations indicate that environmental and genetic factors may increase the risk of
autism, not vaccines or vaccine ingredients. HHS continues to research this issue to
search for answers to better understand the risk factors and causes of this disease. Recent
efforts to coordinate autism research are reflected in the "Strategic Plan for Autism
Spectrum Disorder Research" by the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee at
https://iacc.hhs.gov/publications/strategic-plan/201 7/.

(10) Please advise whether HHS intends to forthwith conduct adequately powered and
controlled prospective as well as retrospective studies comparing total health
outcomes of fully/partially vaccinated with completely unvaccinated children?

4
 HHS tasked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to identify research approaches,
methodologies, and study designs that could address questions about the safety of the
current schedule. This report is the most comprehensive examination of the immunization
schedule to date and can be found at
http://nationalacademies.org/HMD/Reports/2013/The-Childhood-Immunization-
Schedule-and-Safety.aspx. The IOM committee uncovered no evidence of major safety
concerns associated with adherence to the childhood immunization schedule. The
committee also cited ethical concerns about conducting a new study to compare the
health outcomes of vaccinated children with their fully unvaccinated counterparts, as this
would intentionally leave unvaccinated people and the communities they live in subject
to increased risk of death and illness.

Should signals arise that there may be need for investigation, however, the report offers a
framework for conducting safety research using existing or new data collection systems.
One of the systems that the IOM report considered best suited to conduct these types of
studies is CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). In response to the IOM report, CDC
commissioned a white paper on the feasibility of conducting studies of the safety of the
vaccine schedule in VSD. This report states, "Additionally, CDC has started conducting
some of the studies mentioned in the white paper." Additional information on the white
paper can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/pdf/whitepapersafety web.pdf.

(11) Please advise if you will:

a. prohibit conflict waivers for members of HHS's vaccine committees (ACIP,
VRBPAC, NVAC & ACCV)?
HHS employs a thorough process for soliciting and vetting candidates for advisory
committees to minimize any potential for financial conflicts of interest and works to
identify all potential financial conflicts related to the particular matter before a
committee. In accordance with 18 U.S .C. § 208(b)( l ) and (b)(3), a member ofan HHS
vaccine advisory committee may be granted a waiver to allow individuals with
potentially conflicting financial interests to participate in meetings where it concludes,
after close scrutiny, that certain criteria are met. See 18 U.S.C. § 208 for more
information.

b. prohibit HHS vaccine committee members or HHS employees with duties

involving vaccines from accepting any compensation from a vaccine maker for five
years?

The current federal ethics laws and regulations do not provide HHS or any other federal
agency the authority to restrict the future employment of a career federal employee or an
advisory committee member after they leave federal service. However, there are some
restrictions on communication by former employees back to their federal agency, such as

5
 a lifetime ban on communicating or appearing before the government on behalf of their
new employer or anyone else regarding specific policy matters in which they participated
personally and substantially during their entire government service. See 18 U.S.C
§ 207(a)(l) for more information. There are a number of other exceptions that may apply
as well including restrictions on representations to the government for matters under the
former employee's official responsibility and restrictions that apply to senior-level
government officials.

Federal advisory committee members and career federal employees are prohibited from
participating personally and substantially in a particular government matter that will
affect their financial interests, as well as the financial interests of their spouse or minor
child, general partner, or groups or people covered by 18 U.S.C. § 208. Many federal
employees, depending on their duties, must file financial disclosure reports to help
identify and mitigate potential conflicts of interest with the employees' duties. See 5
CPR Part 2634. Additionally, special government employees serving on advisory
committees must report certain financial interests before attending committee meetings.
See 5 CPR§ 2634.904(a)(2). A 208(b)(3) waiver may be granted to such committee
members, based on a determination that the need for the service outweighs the potential
for a conflict of interest.

c. require that vaccine safety advocates comprise half of HHS's vaccine committees?
The Vaccine Act defines memberships for the NVAC and ACCV. See 42 U.S.C. §§
300aa-5 and 300aa-l 9. The VRBP AC charter states that "Members and the Chair are
selected by the Commissioner or designee from among authorities knowledgeable in the
fields of immunology, molecular biology, rDNA, virology; bacteriology, epidemiology or
biostatistics, vaccine policy, vaccine safety science, federal immunization activities,
vaccine development including translational and clinical evaluation programs, allergy,
preventive medicine, infectious diseases, pediatrics, microbiology, and biochemistry."
You can learn more about the VRBAC charter at:
https://www.fda.gov/ AdvisorvCommi ttees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/B loodVaccines
andOtherBiologicsNaccinesandRelatedB iolo gi calProductsAdvisoryCommittee/ucm 1295
71.htm. The ACIP charter provides that "the committee shall consist of 15 members,
including the Chair. Members and the Chair shall be selected by the Secretary, HHS,
from authorities who are knowledgeable in the fields of immunization practices and
public health, have expertise in the use of vaccines and other immunobiologic agents in
clinical practice or preventive medicine, have expertise with clinical or laboratory
vaccine research, or have expertise in assessment of vaccine efficacy and safety. The
committee shall include a person or persons knowledgeable about consumer perspectives
and/or social and community aspects of immunization programs." You can find out more
about the ACIP by reading the chaiier at

6
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/committee/charter.html. New members are selected
based on the candidate' s qualifications and their ability to contribute to the specific
objectives or needs of the committee, with an overall goal of ensuring a diverse
committee that reflects the charge.

d. allocate toward vaccine safety an amount at least equal to 50% of HHS's budget
for promoting/purchasing vaccines?
The United States has a robust vaccine safety system that closely and constantly monitors
the safety of vaccines. Several agencies within HHS dedicate a significant portion of their
budgets and expertise to collaboratively ensure that vaccination efforts are as safe as
possible. Due to the significant progress made in the last few years to monitor side effects
and conduct relevant vaccine safety research, HHS does not foresee drastically changing
current budget allocations in this area. However, this could change pending a vaccine
safety signal. Likewise, advances in the development of new vaccines or ways of
administering immunizations may require additional vaccine safety funding.

To address comments you made in your letter about vaccine monitoring, I want to clarify
a few things. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a national
system to collect reports of adverse events that happen after vaccination. The adverse
events reported to this system are not necessarily caused by vaccination and may or may
not be a condition that occurred by chance alone, so they must be further investigated.
For more information, please visit: https://vaers.hhs.gov/.

HHS places a priority on vaccine safety. To fulfill public health and regulatory functions,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA use the Vaccine Safety
Datalink (VSD) and Post-licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring System
(PRISM) to evaluate if adverse events are related to vaccination. You can find more
details about VSD and PRISM at:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/monitoring/vsd/index.html and
http://onlinelibrary. wiley.corn/doi/10.1002/pds.2323/abstract.

e. support the creation of a vaccine safety department independent of HHS?

HHS works in close partnership with other federal, state and local agencies, as well as
private entities to monitor and communicate about the safety of U.S. vaccines. To
adequately address safety-related issues, strengthen the system that monitors the safety of
vaccines throughout production and use, and advance the safety profile of vaccines, the
expertise of several groups within HHS is required. For example, FDA regulates vaccine
clinical trials, licenses vaccines, and monitors vaccine safety after vaccine use and the
Health Resources and Services Administration runs the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program and the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program. As
HHS plays a significant and cross-cutting role in vaccine safety, the diverse federal

7
vaccine safety portfolio is coordinated at HHS to leverage collaboration among the many
groups, inside and outside of HHS, involved in vaccine and immunization activities.

To address your point about conducting research to uncover long-term adverse events,
HHS both conducts research in this area and funds outside research in this area. For
example, after a safety signal in Europe indicated an increased risk of narcolepsy, a
chronic neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to normally regulate sleep-
wake cycles, after vaccination with a monovalent 2009 HlNl influenza vaccine, CDC
began research to determine ifthere was a safety issue not only in the United States but
globally as well. To respond to this signal, an international team of researchers conducted
a dynamic retrospective cohort study to estimate incidence rates of narcolepsy diagnoses
using a common protocol on electronic data in seven countries during 2003-20 13. For the
case control study, conducted according to a common protocol in six countries, cases
were identified from sleep center records. Overall, the results of this study did not support
an association between receipt of the 2009 HlNl vaccine and narcolepsy. The successful
completion of this study proves that the United States has the infrastructure to not only
investigate vaccine safety signals at a local level, but to also collaborate with
international partners when such signal is of global concern.

f. support the repeal of the 1986 Act to the extent it grants immunity to
pharmaceutical companies for injuries caused by their vaccine products?
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) does vital work to ensure an
adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs, and establish and maintain an
accessible and efficient fornm for individuals found to be injured by certain vaccines.
According to the VICP website, over 5000 petitions were compensated, supply shortages
of vaccines have been reduced, and pricing of vaccines stabilized since the program was
enacted. Likewise, this program provides an alternative to civil litigation that includes
attorney fees and costs. Although the Vaccine Act provides liability protections to
manufacturers of covered vaccines in many circumstances, these protections are not
absolute. The Vaccine Act provides that there are instances when a manufacturer of a
covered vaccine is not protected from liability by the Act, such as when an individual
files a petition and is requesting damages of $1 ,000 or less. In such a case, a civil suit
against an administrator may be permitted to be filed in state or Federal court without
first filing a petition in the VICP.

Further, a repeal of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 is unlikely.
Congress recently passed the 21st Century Cures Act (Public Law 114-255), which made
several amendments to the Vaccine Act. The amendments expand the VICP 's coverage to
include new vaccines that previously were not covered by the VICP (vaccines
recommended by the CDC for routine administration in pregnant women) and make clear

8
that vaccine-injury claims may be filed both with respect to injuries alleged to have been
sustained by women receiving covered vaccines during pregnancy and with respect to
injuries alleged to have been sustained by live-born children who were in utero at the
time those women were administered such vaccines.